Aetna’s Behavioral Authentication and What it Can Do For Your Clients

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center, healthcare related security breaches are at an all-time high so don’t be surprised if a few of your clients come to you worried about how to protect themselves from insurance fraud. A great way to gain their trust is to inform them about all the things they can do to protect themselves and the carriers that are soon to offer the best security. Aetna has voiced that within the next few years they will begin to implement behavioral authentication.

What exactly does that mean? Behavioral authentication allows the application on your computer or cell phone to monitor specific keystrokes, swiping, and mouse movements that are unique to the user. The app then keeps a record of these movements and scores them each time you use your device. If the unique movements don’t match up or don’t score high enough in the system to pass security, the app will take note of it and ask the user for additional security information or limit the user completely to what they intend to access. This is especially useful if someone has stolen your laptop or phone, and they try to breach it for sensitive personal information. Criminals often use the information of their victims to steal their identity for schemes that involve obtaining reimbursement for services they have not received. This could cost your client thousands of dollars and a huge headache that you wouldn’t want yourself or your clients to get tied up in.

With behavioral authentication alongside basic biometric security, it’s no doubt that Aetna will be setting the bar for security across the healthcare industry. Aetna hopes to create consistency and simplify the authentication process with behavioral authentication, as well as reduce the reliance on vulnerable shared secrets, such as passwords and one-time-passcodes. Their implementation of the process couldn’t come at a better time with the statistics showing 36 percent of all breaches and 44 percent of all records compromised in 2016 were healthcare-related.

Aetna’s dedication to protecting sensitive personal information shows just how committed they are to their customer’s well-being. So if you’re not already contracted with this carrier, consider adding them to your portfolio today!